Veterans For Peace Chicago Billboard Campaign

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"Very glad to learn about this outstanding initiative, and I wish you the greatest – well-deserved – success."   Noam Chomsky

"Regarding any input I have about your work to demilitarize public education in Chicago, it has my wholehearted support. We should be teaching our children how to resolve conflicts in a peaceful and constructive way."      Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Gumbleton

What We Are Doing

As militarization spreads across our nation, from police departments to schools to neighborhoods, conflict resolution by violent military means becomes pervasive. Veterans for Peace, an international organization of military veterans and allies, is working to reverse this trend.

Right now, the Chicago Chapter of Veterans For Peace is pursuing a many-pronged campaign to bring Peace at Home, Peace Abroad by focusing on children and youth and the demilitarization of public education.

As veterans, we’ve experienced the military from inside, and many of us have fought in one or more of our country’s all-too-frequent wars. Despite the common claims of recruiters, generals, corporate media and politicians, we can tell you that when the military is sent in, they are there to dominate any person or group that is rightly, wrongly or unnecessarily identified as an enemy, and that the military’s core method is violence.

Domination and violence, and consequently the military, have no place in the lives of children and youth. Our schools should be the bastion for education, not militarization.

Yet, due to the myths, built up over decades, that the military model is about "leadership,"  "discipline" and "service," and that students perform better in military settings, the military mindset persists in invading public schools.   True leadership, discipline and service can be taught in any environment.   The military model, with its focus on following orders without question, is a detriment to development.  If  students are given opportunities, resources and recognition in any classroom, they will perform better.  Getting the military model out of the Chicago Public Schools can be the start to removing the military model from public education nationally.

We seek to build a movement to remove the military model of conflict resolution by violence from the lives of children and youth in Chicago, and to turn Chicago Public Schools into a national showcase for teaching a well-rounded curriculum for all students that includes cooperation, nonviolent conflict resolution skills and restorative justice.

How You Can Help

Right now, we are working to build broad support for our campaign to educate the Chicago area (and the nation) on the necessity to Save Children and Youth from the Military Model.  We are directing our effort to erecting billboards calling for an end to military involvement in our schools, but we may use other means to get the word out and generate dialogue.

Please help bring Peace at Home, Peace Abroad by ending the militarization of public education. Donate generously to our education campaign, and spread the word.
Campaign Details

In the Chicago market, it currently costs about $12,500 to keep one full-size billboard up for one year, and that's how we set our goal. Depending on how our "Education not Militarization" drive develops, we may decide to put up more than one billboard for shorter periods or to put up a mix of billboards and digital signs and other media.
The more generous you can be, the more media we will be able to utilize to educate and generate dialogue in the Chicago area and nationally.

How To Help If You Can't Donate

If you are unable to donate, you can still help greatly by telling as many people as possible about the militarization of education and our efforts. Post us on Facebook and other social media sites. Send emails about us to your contact lists. Whatever you can think to do to help us raise as much awareness (and money) as we can will be greatly appreciated not only by us, but by all the middle and high school students who together we might save from a militarized "education" of conflict resolution by violence.
Thank You!

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/education-not-militarization